Coronavirus
A Message From Anthony Frascogna
by Anthony Frascogna Suffolk Baseball Coaches Association, President Let me start by saying that I still love coaching baseball, it’s getting close to 30 years overall, most times the practices even more than the games. In fact, my first varsity practice included snow shovels and boots instead of bats and balls. Intentionally crazy I admit, but those were different times. Today, as I left my house, passed the remaining snow that was piled by a street plow and got hit by the wind as I passed the shelter the house was providing, my first thought was, “We don’t have practice outside today!” honestly, it was a happy thought. The circumstances that have led to the delay of the Suffolk HS Baseball season, a world-wide pandemic, are nothing short of horrific. All disturbances that have occurre...
10 Years Later: Looking Back on The Wildest Season of my Life
(Photo Credit: Marybeth Zilnicki) 17 minute read I’ve had more successful seasons and more disappointing seasons from a personal standpoint, but I’ve never been a part of any season quite like 2010 with the Farmingdale State Rams. Yesterday marks 10 years to the day that we overcame a 7-2 deficit in the fifth inning to win 11-10 and capture the Skyline Conference Championship over rival SUNY Old Westbury. To put the season in perspective, it ended on an error that scored to two runs in the bottom of the ninth and it wasn’t even the most demoralizing loss of the day. I was thinking about it today and I think it could actually be made into a pretty decent documentary when you consider the expectations, the characters involved, the way the season played out and most importan...
Baseball Lifestyle 101 Steps Up During Nationwide Pandemic
Baseball Lifestyle 101 has consistently been ahead of the curve when it comes to creating content and morphing their online baseball community into real life. Their founder, Josh Shapiro, is born-and-raised on Long Island and a graduate of Walt Whitman HS. He played at Farmingdale State College in 2016 but dropped out to focus on his burgeoning business. They have really exploded since attending the 2018 College World Series in Omaha. We have partnered together in the past. First with postgame interviews during the 2019 season and this year we will be co-hosting a Home Run Derby during August in Farmingdale. During the nationwide pandemic crisis, they have been one of the few companies to thrive due to their consistent social media presence and generous giveaways. Shapiro stated that they&...
The Fallout
By now, you are aware that both Section VIII and Section XI have decided to cancel the 2020 spring high school sports season on Long Island. The CHSAA has not made an official decision yet – it will be determined whether the schools go back in session, so we will remain cautiously optimistic on that front. As far as my opinion goes, I don’t have a scorching hot take on that. We are in unchartered waters and although the death rate has plateaued and we have “flattened the curve”, we still have 1,300 new Covid hospitalizations per day and 430 people died today. So it doesn’t come across great if you are screaming that your season got canceled. Would I have liked a modified season in June? Absolutely, but that’s not happening. With that said, I would be lyi...
Things I Miss About the Baseball Season
It’s only been less than a month but somehow it feels much longer given how the carpet was ripped from beneath. With the weather warming up, it’s offering glimpses of what we are accustomed to recognize as ‘baseball season’. Honestly, the weather in 2020 was just about perfect. We haven’t been hit with any snowstorms and the temperatures have rarely been below 40 degrees since February 1. We’ve been hit pretty hard with bad spring weather every year since 2013 – and we can always count on one significant downfall of snow. In any event, I’m still missing my usual routine during the baseball season. Since the inception of Axcess Baseball, and Baseball on the Island before that, I’ve been used to heading out to a college game at 3 pm in Ma...
The Shame In Losing Your Senior Year of High School
When it comes to being a student-athlete in high school, there is an endless amount of responsibilities and tasks on a daily basis just to have the privilege to step on a field. Looking back on it now, I’m not sure how I even did it. Thinking about waking up at 6 am, catching the bus, sitting through 7 hours of school work for five days per week, multiple nights of off-season workouts, a week of tryouts and two weeks of scrimmages just to get to Opening Day is pretty outrageous. For seniors who may not have gotten the chance to experience success as an 11th grader – and who are probably not playing after this season – this short window of 18 regular season games represented their last opportunity to taste success in an organized sport. And it breaks my heart that there...
Q & A With Infectious Disease Specialist Dr. Rajeev Fernando
Vinny Messana (VM): To give a proper introduction, Dr. Rajeev Fernando, an infectious disease specialist at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital. Thank you for your time and helping combat this deadly disease that has turned everything upside down. Dr. Rajeev Fernando (RF): It is a pleasure and honor. When we get into medicine, this is what we get in for. I am so happy to be on the front lines and I know everyone in our hospitals are working so hard too. It is really a team effort so, thank you. VM: It hits close to home for me. As you know, my fiance works at the hospital so she should be home in a minute. She’s been doing 13 hours days. It’s crazy. I hear everything that is going on and it is not an exciting time. We got a lot of kids that sent in questions. First, you see a lot of m...
Five Team Skills We Can Learn from Hospital Staffs Working the COVID-19 Pandemic
By Brendan Duffy RPSGT St Charles Sleep Disorders Center Clinical Sleep Health Educator These have been trying times for all of us and have disrupted the schedules of everyone. As a health care worker I get to see firsthand the time, effort, and compassion of the healthcare “teams” out there every day seeking to win daily against this COVID virus. I want to start out with a “shout out “to my teammates in hospitals throughout the country! I salute you all and admire your dedication and hard work under stressful conditions! I also want to thank the community that has shown so much love for our local medical teams here on Long Island with their adherence to isolation directives, kind touching notes, care packages, supplies etc.! It means a lot! If you are an athlete or a coach, you kno...
Brandon Alberto: I’m Set On Coming Back
Editor’s Note: Brandon Alberto is a 2015 graduate of Newfield, and the captain of New York Tech. He is currently in his redshirt-senior season, after missing 2019 while recovering from Tommy John surgery. He spoke with us following the abrupt ending to the 2020 NCAA season. Alright, so let’s start off with the NCAA abruptly cancelling the 2020 season. Can you tell us where you were when the decision came down ? We were in the middle of a game against Felician. None of us knew at the time – actually we were winning 20-8 or something. The coaches pulled me over and said ‘Berto go get hot!’ And like, I’m our closer so I was like ‘what – what do you mean get hot?’ We were winning by 12 or 13 runs, I pitched two days prior and they were like...
MLB Opening Day Not Likely To Be Until June
by Tony Genualdo With the NBA, NCAA, NHL, MLS, and newly-formed XFL all suspending or cancelling their seasons this past week, there was only a slight chance that the MLB could be ready for Opening Day weekend at the end of March. But following MLB’s announcement that the remainder of Spring Training games had been cancelled and the start of the 2020 season will be delayed by at least two weeks, that hope has faded. “This action is being taken in the interests of the safety and well-being of our players, clubs and our millions of loyal fans,” the league said in a statement. “MLB will continue to evaluate ongoing events leading up to the start of the season. Guidance related to daily operations and workouts will be relayed to clubs in the coming days.” The “guidance” changed a lot over the ...
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